Sheffield Resources has announced shipments of 82,000 tonnes (t) of zircon concentrate from its Thunderbird Mineral Sands Mine in Western Australia for the March 2025 quarter.
The Thunderbird Mineral Sands Mine is operated by Kimberley Mineral Sands (KMS), a 50:50 joint venture between Sheffield and Yansteel.
Located in the Kimberley region, the project is one of the world’s largest high-grade, heavy-mineral sands deposits.
The mine can produce a range of high-quality mineral sands concentrate products including a zircon concentrate and an ilmenite concentrate, which are suitable for smelting into chloride slag or for the production of titanium dioxide pigment.
During the March quarter, ore mining at Thunderbird reached 2.5 million tonnes (mt), ilmenite concentrate production stood at 148,000t, while zircon concentrate production was 39,000t.
Prioritisation of zircon shipments and a closure at the port of Broome led to the deferral of a final ilmenite concentrate shipment to April.
The March 2025 quarter shipments stood at 126,000t. Additionally, 18,000t of leucoxene concentrate were shipped.
Sheffield Resources executive chair Bruce Griffin said: “Record zircon shipments for the March quarter are the result of the expanded customer base developed by the KMS marketing team and the strong interest we are seeing from existing and new customers for Thunderbird zircon concentrate.
“Combined with continued regular shipments of ilmenite to our joint venture partner Yansteel, these strong sales are expected to deliver the first positive quarter of operating cash flow for the Thunderbird mine; an excellent turnaround by KMS management, staff and contractors.”
In a related development, Sheffield Resources executed a binding agreement with RGM in February 2023 for an option to acquire up to an initial 20% interest in the South Atlantic Mineral Sands Project in Brazil.
The South Atlantic Project in south-east Brazil comprises four main deposits – Retiro, Estreito, Capao do Meio and Bujuru.
Sheffield also holds a 10% stake in Capital Metals, which owns the Taprobane mineral sands project in Sri Lanka.
